Guangdong-Switzerland Trade in 2016, Export Up & Import Down

[2017-05-02]

During 15-18 January 2017, Chinese President Xi made a state visit to Switzerland, attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum and visiting international organizations based in the country. That marked the start of China's 2017 diplomacy oriented to Europe and the whole world, which is significant for improving bilateral relations, China-EU cooperation and global governance.

According to China Customs statistics, in 2016, Guangdong Province trade with Switzerland totaled RMB 25.29 billion yuan, down 25.9% year-over-year (YOY), including export-to-Switzerland value 5.07 billion yuan, up 5.4% YOY, and import-from-Switzerland value 20.22 billion yuan, down 31.1% YOY.

Characteristics of Guangdong Trade with Switzerland in 2016:

(1) Monthly export and import had big fluctuations, the value of December down sharply. Since 2016, Guangdong-Switzerland trade value had big fluctuations on a monthly basis, with December value 2.56 billion yuan, down sharply 69.8% YOY (8.49 billion yuan in Dec 2015) and down 18.1% MOM: export to Switzerland reached 570 million yuan, up 10.5% YOY and 16.1% MOM; import from Switzerland reached 1.99 billion yuan, down 75.1% YOY and 24.5% MOM. (See the chart below.)

 

(2) Ordinary trade value accounted for nearly 60% but declined more than 30% YOY. In 2016, ordinary trade value with Switzerland was 14.58 billion yuan, down 32.7% YOY, accounting for 57.6% of total value, including exports worth 2.39 billion yuan, up 22.5% YOY; imports worth 12.19 billion yuan, down 38.2% YOY. In the same period, processing trade value was 9.3 billion yuan, down 17.1% YOY, accounting for 36.8%.

(3) Sixty percent of the trade was attributed to private enterprises. In 2016, Guangdong private enterprises made export and import worth 15.17 billion yuan with Switzerland, down 32.6% YOY, accounting for 60% of Guangdong total, including export worth 1.54 billion yuan, up 35.9% YOY, and import 13.63 billion yuan, down 36.2% YOY. Over the same period, foreign-invested enterprises made export and import worth 8.47 billion yuan, down 7.4% YOY, accounting for 33.5%.

(4) The export of traditional labor-intensive products remained stable, telephones export increased significantly. In 2016, Guangdong export of electro-mechanical products to Switzerland reached 3.43 billion yuan, up 8.1% YOY, accounting for 67.7% of Guangdong's total export. Therein, automatic data processors and components were worth 220 million yuan, down 15.8% YOY; telephones worth 200 million yuan, a substantial increase of 30.3% YOY. In the same period, exports of 7 categories of traditional labor-intensive products totaled 1.26 billion yuan, down 0.1%, accounting for 25%; therein clothing and accessories worth 370 million yuan, up 12.2%; footwear 360 million yuan, down 15.7%; bags 220 million yuan, down 5.8%.

(5) The most imported was wristwatches, but more than 30% less YOY, while circuit protection devices and medicines were both imported much more. In 2016, imported electro-mechanical products from Switzerland totaled 3.58 billion yuan, accounting for 17.7% of total import. Therein, wristwatches totaled 610 million yuan, a substantial decline of 32.4%; measurement/test analyzing instruments totaled 450 million yuan, up 7.3% YOY; imported on-off circuit protection devices totaled 410 million yuan, a substantial increase of 80.1%. In the same period, the import of medicines reached 390 million yuan, up 24.1%; imports of primary plastics and agricultural products reached 260 million yuan and 180 million yuan respectively, down 0.01% and down 6.3% YOY.
 
Source: ETCN
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